Kings Edge Out Wild in 1-0 Victory

That is the Los Angeles Kings versus Minnesota Wild matchup everyone's come to expect. 

After combining for 13 goals in their first game of the season, the Los Angeles Kings and Minnesota Wild managed just one Tuesday night. 

That one goal came from Gabe Vilardi, because of course it did. His 10th of the season, tying a previous career high in just 15 games. 

It was a vintage performance from Jonathan Quick and Marc-Andre Fleury. Quick finished with a 21-save shutout, the 57th of his career. Fleury made 29 saves and 2.01 goals saved above expected. 

Once again an opposition player swung his stick at a Kings player. After battling with Drew Doughty, Kiril Kaprisov turned around and struck Doughty with his stick. It earned the Russian superstar a five-minute match penalty and likely a call from NHL Player Safety. 

"I'm not too sure one of the top 10 players in the league wants to leave the game with intention," said Todd McLellan. "I don't think that was Kaprisov's intent at all. "Whether his emotions got a hold of him or not, I don't think that's the case in that situation."

Intent or not, Kaprisov should expect a healthy fine and possibly a few games watching from the press box. 

The LA Kings still haven't figured out how to blend their explosive offense with good defense. Having to choose between one or the other on most nights. And the team is still searching for answers as to why.

"I'm not sure why we're dealing with it," said Matt Roy. "I think when you're scoring a lot you're feeling good and you may want to take a little more risks whether you're aware of it or not. When the games are tighter you might not feel like you want to take as many risks. I think it's just natural, when it's a tight game you want to tighten it up."

"When you improve as a team you look for perfection, we do it," said McLellan. "We want the 5-0 win every night and it's not there, there's a lot of 4-4 games, 5-4 games, lots of offense not so much defense. Tonight there wasn't a lot of offense either way but one team found a way to get a goal. As you get better as a team your looking for perfection on both ends, it doesn't really exist and we still have a long way to go to really get to that point."

The LA Kings will be searching for perfection once again Thursday as they take on the Chicago Blackhawks.